Ten Years
by knittingknots
Summary: Post Manga. InuYasha and Kagome get away from everybody to share the anniversary of her return to him. That was a very special day to both of them - but what does InuYasha think is even better? And how does Kagome react?


_I do not own InuYasha or any character created by Rumiko Takahashi_

**Ten Years**

InuYasha watched the soft pink petal drift in the wind. Blossom time was past its prime, and the Sakura blossoms were falling in a slow pastel rain. Several years ago, he had found this old Sakura tree, whose graceful branches were still a lovely sight of mostly pale pink, far from the nearest village. It stood snuggled in a small valley low enough to have lost its snow but surrounded by rocky hills that made access difficult. There was a stream nearby, fed by snow melt, too cold to bathe in, but clean and fresh and sweet. The stream rushed by, high in its rocky channel, hidden by pale green willow branches that were just starting to leaf, and the remains of last year's brush. Somewhere, hidden in the branches of a tree, a songbird clearly announced its presence.

He took a deep breath, letting the peace of the place wash over him. It had become a ritual of his, these last five years, to come here alone with his wife in the spring at blossom time. But even before that, when they still lived the village of the old miko in Musashi, they had taken off alone one day in the spring once a year to remember that first day when their lives became one. This was their tenth time doing it, and he appreciated each and every one.

InuYasha shifted his legs, laying back on the cloth they were sitting on, to look up at the tree and most importantly, at Kagome. As he turned to watch his wife feeding bits of wood to the small fire she was making, his heart stirred.

Wearing a jacket of pale green and pink, Kagome's hands moved deftly to place the kettle over the fire pan. From a small chest which functioned as her table, she had spread the makings for tea. Each step was neat, practiced, precise. It pleased him to watch how she moved doing even the little things. Turning a bit, she smiled at him, her blue-gray eyes happy with the moment.

"So beautiful," InuYasha said, almost too soft for her to hear.

She still looked much the same way she did that day he pulled her out of the well. Her eyes were wiser, having seen both joy and sorrow, her hips had widened bringing new life into the world, her hands became a little rougher with the experience of making the days they spent together warm and safe, and as pleasant as she knew how. But he still found her as lovely as the day he first saw her – perhaps even more.

"What's so beautiful?" she asked. Kagome reached over and picked up a flower petal where it had drifted to land on the tip of one of his ears. It twitched as her fingers gently brushed it.

"This place," he replied, sitting up. "You. Everything."

He reached out his hand, brushed his knuckles across her cheek lightly. She covered his hand with hers and gave him a brilliant smile.

"Everything?" she asked playfully. Her eyes sparkled. "How about Jaken?"

"Jaken's not here," he said. His hand slid to the back of her neck, and then to her waist, and he pulled her closer, brushing his lips across hers, a quick, light kiss. Pulling back slightly, he looked at her with warm but intense amber eyes. "But you are."

"Yes I am," she replied, cupping her hand around his cheek. "And it's almost as perfect a day as the day I came back." She returned his kiss, but lingered longer.

"That was a good day," InuYasha acknowledged. "It was the best day. Seeing you standing at the bottom of the well was like . . . " He struggled for the right thing to say.

"My heart was pounding when I looked up and saw you there," Kagome said. She took his hand and laced her fingers in his.

"Mine was, too," he admitted. "It's scary when you see your wish come true. But today is even better."

He kissed her once again, tenderly, letting one hand weave through her hair, the other hand dance along the curve of her waist until it came to rest holding the soft mound of her breast. His tongue slowly circled the line of her lips, and she melted into his embrace, opening her mouth to him, until both tongues danced together in a slow sensuous movement, filled with the taste and feel of each other, slowly heating their want. Eventually, the deep kiss broke apart with several smaller, lingering ones, neither willing to have the delicious contact ended.

"So today's better?" Kagome asked, kissing his chin.

"Yeah. Ten years better." InuYasha reached up and moved the tea kettle off of the heat, and put it on its trivet. "I don't think we're going to need that for a while."

"Maybe not," Kagome conceded.

He lay down on the cloth, pulling her with him. "Besides, this time there's no nosey monk or kitsune here to interrupt anything. And that makes it even better."

"Gonna show me what you would have done if they hadn't come by?" she said, laughing.

"Oh you know it," he replied, and, under a slow rain of pink petals, he proceeded to demonstrate.


End file.
